Brainstorm Cafe

yes, i talked to the horse as i walked by. he was happy, i was too. (c) mark somple 2018

I have come to realize why I so love skunkworks spaces and why I am a bit out of kilter with equipment and projects all over this planet. if you have to rely on the normal distribution and or purchasing way these days a) I wonder how brick and mortar shops will survive for commodity products and b) we have reached a space of specialization where seemingly unlimited choices and option (which in theory is great) has forgotten common sense and humanity when the systems get too far ahead or behind reality. I call it to pass-the-buck-i-tis.

the best example was me trying to have a text chat with Ireland about a computer issue that was deeper (they are my host) than someone simply copy and pasting some image. it is something inside the system, a script, or simply the front page that while I am not a computer programmer or code hacker, I understand the methods and reasons for why.

I remember simply stopping learning how to do pranks in 2000 when I needed a piece of software and my partner literally, in the course of 30 seconds went through two companies websites and we called the second, “how did you know we bought them?”

the truth and it was 30 seconds, was how good the best of this world really are. and when you get a tech support person trying to explain what probably is a common issue, they aren’t going to know the details of how the system works….or that if someone was really good, you don’t even notice they are there. in this case…it is a basic screw up that has shown their main systems are corrupted.

instead of saying, “Woah, thanks for the heads up….” I got, “anyone can download an image off the internet, want me to show you how?”

you can waste your time, but when you want to say, “really? that is funny, the guy that has the patent for loading video on the web…he was that guy that hacked into two company systems in 30 seconds, and he will say, “I am not that good! you should see (XXXXXXXXXXXXXX) basement, he has supercomputers he plays with!”

this carries over into the normal world. for example, if you say, “order it on Monday, It will be here on Friday.” I think that means “ok, you place on an order on Monday from the distributor and they have it shipped in on Friday.” I am used to studying the Amazon model, and I met the guy from ETH Zurich that probably was paid dump truck of Swiss francs, euros, dollars for being the mind behind the systems where warehouses are not so much organized by type, but rather optimized placement that will one day simply be run by warehousing robots. if you haven’t seen these working, they are really a marvel. it has me wonder if computerized shipping container ports and cranes will one day be normal? (what will a human do?)

so you have these systems…they update more than once a day, so you should get a fairly real-time and accurate account of “we have this In stock…etc.” so how it is three weeks later I am calling a tile company that is the culprit of, “order on Monday and have it on Friday” where I checked online and found the exact same tile…for (let me do the math) 37% less, that would have been here two weeks ago.

I get buying local and supporting your local business – but I do not get, and/or did not realize how antiquated the non-urban centers were operating when one considers the technological improvements and innovations I see around the planet. it is frustrating, and I do understand it costs a lot of money to innovate, particularly in the bleeding and cutting-edge worlds…but there isn’t really any trick down to the levels I thought – rather more of a separation between the haves and the have-nots on the planet.

if I hear any more corporate buzzwords about ecology, sustainable, organic, healthy and such from the west where the same people want more pay/stock options, another house and cars…well…” how much is enough for one to sustain themselves?” why do we need to advertise what we probably should be doing via common sense? oh yeah, that pride and ego things.

you would be amazed at how little one needs. and actually how happy one is. it is like the orphans we deal with. they are simply happy humans because they don’t really know about all the trinkets and shiny objects or greed of the civilized and developed world. you give a box of fruit to a group of kids in much of the world and they will share. you do that in the states and I wager one or two will horde. why?

ok..can you tell I am venting? if nothing, all of these past few months have done has ignited a fuel to a fire to go out and finally build this mobile skunkworks space. I don’t know where “home” will really be on this planet, but it is a way to go into urban, rural, off the grid spaces anywhere on the planet and be self-sufficient and create and build ideas and cutting out all the time that is currently wasted inside the existing manufacturing/distribution systems.

what would be built? places and space for plants and people to come, share and grow in some way.

while I know the money is in entertainment. perhaps I realize how much one can manipulate a human with the tech – and I just don’t think that is ok, without a person making a choice that they want to.

maybe I did gain some wisdom? or I am stupid? it is a bit like love…it is a choice. you can either do it for selfish reasons, or selfless ones. if you have tried both, you realize the one that really make you grow and has the most value is the second choice.

thanks for listening to my vent this morning. meetings in NYC and then I keep praying all the materials for my parents project show up. I have to confess, the town they live in has to learn to change, or they will be left behind as the jobs today – will be replaced by robots and the slick distribution groups with Amazon and Alibaba. I don’t want to see it happen, but I get tired in Europe of people saying, “oh we pay a little more to keep the local business alive.”

my point is, “why are you paying twice as much for the exact same thing? are you getting something special? (like having a baker right outside your door is amazing) or do you think paying $4 for a tomato at the grocery store that is the same as the $2 one you can have delivered in less time is better?”

people are not going to pay more for the exact same thing. initially they might hold onto the “local” idea, but the reality is when the mass converts…the “local” is in big danger. it is something I wonder how it will play out in the non-mega-cities of the world in the future.

I think of how good my software friends were with working systems and apply quantum computers and advanced artificial intelligence to it all….we are either going to live in a world where capitalism forgets that humans are in the system, or the people will one day wake up, stop staring into their screens and realize there is another human being as frustrated with the systems and have a real conversation. time will tell.

care to join me for a coffee?

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